Everyone has a something that hurts their ‘soul.’
Some people it might be a derogatory name, others it might be a place, some might have a sound/ song that triggers it. Sometimes we do not know what it is that hurt us. Not until much later when we develop the awareness to start questioning why we are as we are.
These things that can wound us so, do not develop overnight. They take years. They start in our childhood. A word from a friend, the actions of our parents, things we see and hear and do. Our very lives shape the weapon that becomes our weakness.
We keep these weapons… weaknesses, secret. Locked close to our hearts. We do not share our weakness with people, for fear that they may use the knowledge against us. It is in this secrecy that makes our reaction to the weapon stronger and our weakness more obvious.
I wonder if it would be easier if these weaknesses were curses. One day you cross an Romano (gypsy.) Maybe you stepped on his/her shadow, killed a flower, or something as innocent. It could be that you were not a ‘nice’ person at the time and did something really bad like killed a member of the family, or stole from them. Either way you end up with the curse of a weakness.
Curses can be resolved if one works at it. Go on a quest, collect a thing, and poof, you are better. You might have even learned something along the way. You come out a better person with a new found lust for life and a great story to tell your family and friends. Maybe you will get a book deal and never have to worry about certain aspects of life again.
Our weaknesses are kind of like curses in a way. If you can figure out what it is you can start to do something about it.
Avoidance. Stop doing things that get you hurt. The down side to this is that you can end up in a situation that is worse that where you started. Wars have started because people avoided an uncomfortable situation.
Mitigation. Know ahead of time that you are going into a situation that is likely to get you hurt. You might be able to keep the wound from hurting to bad or have someone there that can soften the blow. This can either toughen you over time or just delay a death blow.
Acceptance. Accept you have this weakness. Do not change anything you do and just deal with the hurt as it happens. You may become tougher, you may collapse from the hurt one day, or life could just carry on with out anything noticeable happening.
Exploitation. Use your weakness and make it a strength. This one is the hardest. The means that you know your weakness well. You know what caused it, how it is triggered, and have overcome it. Now you can use it to get things done. Motivational speakers talk about this kind of thing.
Most often people do nothing. They avoid the things that can hurt them. They place blame on the people that make them hurt and play a victim. As though the people around them know what their weakness is and use the weapon to hurt them on purpose. As though they are the only ones that have a weakness. As though we do not all suffer from a weakness of some sort. As though there is a handy map or list of what we should avoid doing around them.
It is up to us to overcome the thing that hurts us. We can get help from friends, family, professionals or just do it our selves. We can read books, go to clinics and lectures, or search for answers in the spiritual. Still it is up to us to dull the weapon that causes us hurt. It is up to us to overcome our weakness and be strong.
This painting is the result of my weakness. I am always working to overcome it. I go out and make and effort to connect with people. It seems that I end up walking into a trap on a regular basis. Though I know it is just me and nothing to do with the other people. My perceptions of the situation not reality.
I will stitch myself up and keep trying to be able to exploit my weakness. One day my weakness will be my strength.
The thread being used is gold, inspired by Kintsugi. The Japanse art of fixing broken pottery with gold. To show that broken can be beautiful.
--- Also, no video this week. I have been creating art and not editing video. I am not sure that editing video is even worth the effort right now. ---